At CPAC, silence on gay marriage

Republican Sen. Rob Portman’s surprise endorsement of gay marriage pushed the issue even further to the forefront of the national political conversation.

But at the largest annual gathering of conservative activists this week, top speakers have been mostly mum about it.

Story Continued Below

And the relative silence on the main stage of the Conservative Political Action Conference also says something about the country’s shift on the issue: Same-sex marriage is no longer the winning issue it was for the GOP less than a decade ago, when George W. Bush was running for re-election and a generation of younger voters had not yet come of age.

Long a motivator of the Republican base, the issue has gotten plenty of attention at CPAC in the past. But not on the central stage of this year’s mega-gathering in Maryland.

“CPAC is no less ideological, but it’s becoming more tactical and strategic,” said pollster Kellyanne Conway, who also believes Republicans are making a mistake not making clear where they stand and adopting what she called “a defensive crouch.”

Save for a punchline from GOP mega-donor Foster Friess about the Chick-fil-A protests and a full-throated speech from former Sen. Jim DeMint, the conversation from CPAC’s main stage about gay marriage has been non-existent. More time was devoted to panel discussions about women’s issues and abortion than to gay marriage.

It was an especially stark contrast on a day when the Republican establishment was answering questions about Portman’s conversion on gay marriage. Instead of being lambasted in speeches, it was as if Portman didn’t exist.

To be sure, the conservative base has by no means discarded its objections to gay marriage, as the Chick-fil-A protests last year underscored. One of the opening-day panels featured the National Organization for Marriage making the case against same-sex nuptials (the group’s leader, Brian Brown, told Slate Friday night that Portman should expect a primary). And the gay group GOProud was not invited to take part in the festivities this year, for the second year in a row.

Of all the party’s prospective 2016 hopefuls who spoke so far, Sen. Marco Rubio made the most direct reference to gay marriage — and in the form of defending his own opposition to it, as opposed to denouncing it.

“Just because I believe that states should have the right to define marriage in the traditional way does not make me a bigot,” Rubio told the crowd on Thursday afternoon, adding that the issue should be left to the states.

It was hard not to notice the gentle approach on the topic of gay marriage (and outside the event itself, a group of consultants, operatives and media gathered at an unauthorized event in support of gay marriage).

There were no calls from the stage from prospective candidates for a federal marriage amendment, a hallmark of some CPACs past.